Shower fixture alignment
Hello!
Grateful for views and advice on this shower. Due to several mistakes from the contractor plus my own inexperience renovating for the first time, we ended up with the below layout. I know the handheld shower is often offset in many designs but the control valve not being centred with anything really bugs me. When they tried to centre the handheld rail with the valve, the hose kept hitting it. When they tried to centre it with the rain head, the same issue occurred because the rain head is too low. The top of the handheld also hit the rain head and it looked messy given how far away the elbow was.
This layout ended up being the most functional, but it is not what I envisaged at all (I wanted a straight clean line for the rain head and handheld). The hook was added to cover a hole in the tile from the initial incorrect attempt at attaching the fixture (turns out is very handy but only adds to the asymmetry). I also don't like the niche with its incomplete border or the accent tile. This was the only place the niche could go due to the studs. The right hand side wall was not useable so everything had to go on the one wall.
If I did it again, I would go for a single combined rail system and a plain niche with a mitred edge. The offset valve wouldn't matter then because that's what makes sense for that system (and it made sense with the original set up which was a single shower head in a neo angle shower). I was told retrofitting to a combined rail would not be possible given the height needed for the rain head. Kohler has a design that could work, but still not sure what to do with the water supply going to the elbow?
https://www.kohler.com/en/products/showers/shop-shower-fittings/hydrorail-r-beam-shower-column-45212
So...how bad does it look? The shower is fully functional so that is not an issue. Any suggestions on how to improve symmetry/ aesthetics without redoing the entire bathroom? Having the original contractor come in to fix it is not an option. I feel I really messed up what could have been a great bathroom!
Comments (9)
PRO6 months agolast modified: 6 months agoRelated Professionals
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6 months agolast modified: 6 months agoIt looks fine to me, even though it was not what you envisioned. If it bothers you, the simplest change would be to replace the fixed showerhead with one that has a smaller diameter.
I had to change the configuration that I had planned for my plumbing wall as well (under construction). And I had to explain to the plumber that I will want to use the handheld showerhead while it is stationary on the slide; the purpose of the slide is to be able to adjust the height. The plumber was thinking that the handheld showerhead would sit centered on the slide except when it is being used. He thought that the center of the slide should align, horizonally, with the center of the control valve. He had not realized that I needed enough space to move the handheld up or down on the slide.
The only thing I kept in my design was to have the fixed shower head centered on the plumbing wall with the shower valve aligned under it. The first change was to move the niche from the plumbing wall to the back wall. Edited to add that my framer was able to cut through a stud on the back wall to give a large niche.
Next, I moved the shower arm up 3 inches (from 81" to 84" for the tall people in the household). I moved the elbow (outlet for the hose) from the center below the control valve (the hose would have dragged on the floor) to the right side and higher up. I moved the slide bar from the left of the fixed shower head to the right side.
Attaching my hand-drawn sketch of what I planned vs a photo of the result (rough plumbing). In the photo, the "nipple" on the top (gray metal tube) will be replaced with the fixed SH; the "nipple" on the right side will be replaced with the elbow. The slide bar will be attached to the stud on the right. The black triangular thing is the rough-in for the control valve.
pinguinio thanked coastal_vibe
PRO6 months ago- 6 months ago
- 6 months ago
Thanks everyone, especially those who made me feel a bit better about this! It's good to know that it's not a terrible eyesore. Despite this being my intended forever home, I worry about resale issues etc.
A few people commented on the rain head being too close to the wall but I think the photo has probably skewed the dimensions. It's far enough from the wall to comfortably shower under and none of the water is hitting the niche or handheld.
la_la Girl